Towards environmental sustainability in Russia: evidence from green universities

Universities all over the world are increasingly recognizing the need for the attainment of environmental sustainability on campuses resulting in the adoption of several environmental sustainable initiatives by university management. This article, therefore, seeks to investigate the impact of campus-base management practices on environmental quality among Russian Universities. The study also explores the strengths and weaknesses against the best practices for campus sustainability as defined by the UI greenMetric world university ranking as well as the awareness of students about pro-environmental behaviours on campuses. Secondary data from the 2015 to 2019 world university ranking was sourced for the impact assessment as well as the strengths and weaknesses. The study also sourced primary data with the help of a structured questionnaire from student respondents to assess their awareness of pro-environmental behaviours. Fixed-effects, and random-effects models were used to assess the management impact on environmental quality. The result from the empirical models indicate that education and research, transportation and waste influence environmental quality on university campuses. The strengths and weaknesses of universities were assessed based on six (6) categories (setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transport, and education and research). The study also assessed the perception of students on pro-environmental activities. While the results show an increasing trend of awareness among Russian universities (Management) in campus sustainability initiatives, most students appear to be unaware of environmental initiatives undertaken by their universities. The study, therefore, made some recommendations that can help improve campus sustainability levels while at the same time increase student participation.